Display stand for wearing apparel



Aug 25, 1959 N. MOORE DISPLAY STAND FOR WEARING APPAREL Filed Sept. 10,1957 INVENTOR.

Nam

AT TORNEYS United States Pat DISPLAY STAND FOR WEARING APPAREL NormanMoore, Jackson Heights, N.Y., assignor to S. Klein Department Stores,Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application September10, 1957, Serial No. 683,042 1 Claim. 01. 31z 14o.s

This invention relates to stands for displaying merchandise in stores,and more especially for displaying articles of clothing that come indifferent sizes.

It is becoming increasingly popular for stores to place merchandise ondisplay stands from which customers can make their own choice and takethe items to a sales: person or cashier. The display stands are tablesor counters with low walls and with division strips separating the spaceinto a number of different shallow bins or sections for items ofdifferent size.

One of the principal difficulties encountered in such self-servicemerchandising is the mixing of the different sizes. A customer will takea blouse from the bin or section having small sizes, inspect the articleand then throw it back on the display stand, but in another bin orsectionhaving items of larger size.

This mixing of sizes is harmful to the goodwill of the store becauseanother customer will go to the section of the stand having her size andselect an item which she likes, and then discover it is not the rightsize. After a number of such experiences people tend to avoid the store,especially when shopping in a hurry, because they have the feeling thatthey cannot find what they want in that store.

It is expensive to have store personnel constantly sorting articles onmulti-section display stands, and various expcdients have been used toreduce mixing of sizes.

One such expedient has been the locating of relatively high partitionsbetween the different sections or bins in which the merchandise isdisplayed. This has not been successful because partitions high enoughto have any appreciable effect on the mixing of different sizes areimpractical because of the unattractive appearance which they give tothe display stand and the obstructing of the customers Vision of thedifferent items on display. The locating of the diiferent sizes ondifferent display stands, which are widely separated from one another,is also not practical for a number of reasons, the most important ofwhich is that customers attracted to a particular stand reject the ideaof buying the item if they do not find their size at that particularstand.

It is an object of this invention to provide a display stand havingshallow bins or sections in which items. of different sizes aredisplayed, and to provide a relation of bins or sections which preventor greatly reduce the mixing of sizes when customers are handling thedifferent items before making a choice. The invention provides tableshaving shallow bins on the top of each table with some separation of thetables from one another so that there is a chasm between each bin andthe next bin; but the chasms are relatively narrow and there areconnections across their outer ends which join the different bins into aunitary assembly.

It has been found that if there is a physical separation between theadjacent bins, even though a narrow separation, the presence of a chasmbetween the walls of the adjacent bins has the elfect of causing peopleto usually 2 return an item to the same bin from which they took it. Thebins may be full of merchandise, that is, there may be no wall extendingabove the general level of the merchandise, and yet these chasms aremore effective than high partition walls previously tested to preventmixing of sizes.

The different bins or sections of the display stand of this inventionare located close enough together so as to give the customers thefeeling that they are a part of a single display unit so that if thefirst items picked up are too small, the customer will realizeimmediately that the other bins include the same kind of items indifferent sizes. The impression of a unitary display is furtherincreased by having some physical connection between the different binsand this physical connection is preferably located near the front ofeach chasm so that customers cannot enter into the chasms between thebins.

Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a displaystand made up of a cluster of tables, each of which has low side wallsfor holding merchandise thereon, and with the tables separated from. oneanother by chasms between them, but connected in such a way as toprovide a unitary display stand for a group of items, different sizes ofwhich are located on different tables.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which life referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a display stand made inaccordance with this invention; and

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the display stand as shown in Figure 1,but with the parts shown on a reduced scale.

Figure 1 shows a display stand 10 consisting of four tables 11, 12, 13and 14. The table 11 has a. top 16 and four legs 17 extending downwardlyfrom the top for supporting the table from the floor. The legs 17 areshown divering from one another as they extend downwardly, but they maybe made parallel or in various other relations, and these legs 17 aremerely representative of means for supporting the table top 16 at aconvenient height above the floor.

There are relatively low side walls 21 extending upwardly above thelevel of the table top 16. These side walls 21 and the table top 16 forma shallow bin or display stand section into which items of a particularsize are placed. In the preferred construction the side walls 21 alsoextend some distance downwardly below the level of the table top 16, theconstruction shown in Figure 1 being a composite construction in whichthe lower parts of each side wall is offset inwardly; but it will beunderstood that the outside surface of the side wall can be flush forits entire height. All of the other tables 12, 13 and 14 are of similarconstruction to that described for table 11 and thus form similar binsor sections of the display stand.

Although the display stand can be made with different numbers of tables,the cluster of four tables shown in Figure l is a particularly effectivestand; and in this cluster the tables 11 and 12 may be considered as onerow of tables and the tables 13 and 14 as another row.

The tables are separated from one another so that there is a chasmbetween the confronting outside surfaces of the side walls of adjacenttables. No very wide separation is necessary in order to achieve theobject of this invention. It has been found that a chasm nine incheswide is sufiicient to produce a remarkable reduction in the amount ofmixing which takes place between the diiferent tables. Apparently thereis some psychological factor involved in having the open chasms betweenthe bins to cause customers to retain an association between aparticular item being inspected and the bin from which it was taken; andthe sizes are thus i-lsually returned to their properbins.- 4 p Theamount ofi separation is apparently not so important as theconspicuousness of the chasms. In order to be conspicuous the separationshould be at least inches and there appears to: be no net gain in evermaking the separation more than twelve inches. Nine inches is a goodaverage, but the conspicuousness does depend to some extent upon howmuch the level of the top walls 21 is below the eye level of thecustomer- In ordinary installations display stands are. alwayssubstantially the same height and for this reason nine inches can betaken as a separation distance for the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

In order to maintain the impression that all of the merchandise in thebins of all four tables 11-14 is part of a single display, it isdesirable to have some connecting means extending between the differenttables, and in the construction illustrated there are bars 25 extendingacross the forward ends of the chasms between the tables. These bars 25are preferably located near the front end of each chasm for two reasons.One is that the location makes the connecting of the tables into aunitary display more evident; and another is that the bars preventcustomers from walking into the chasms between the tables.

It would be objectionable to permit customers to enter the chasmsbecause the chasms are made narrow in order to reduce the floor spacerequired for the display, and customers getting. into the chasms wouldsometimes displace the tables. A greater objection, however, is thatcustomers standing in the chasms when the display stand was busy wouldobstruct the view of the other display bins and thus defeat the purposeof having a unitary display stand.

In order not to detract from the chasm eifect, and at the same time makethe connections evident for purposes of identifying the dilferent tablesas a unitary display, the obstructions or bars 25 are located at somedistance below the top of each side Wall 21. In practice it has beenfound effective to use pipes as the bars 25. It has also been foundeffective to locate these bars below the level of the table tops 16. Oneinch chrome plated pipes have been used as the bars 25 but this is givenmerely by way of illustration.

At the inner end of each of the chasms there is a platform 28 supportedfrom the different tables 11-14 and this platform provides a convenientsupport for an advertising sign 32 referring to the merchandise in thebins on all of the tables. In the illustrated construction there is alsoa sign 34 associated with each bin for indicating the size of themerchandise in that bin. Each of these signs 34 is supported by anupright standard 36 having a lower end which fits into anopening 38 ineach table top 16. i

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustratedanddescribed, but changes and modifications can be made, and somefeatures can be used in difierent combinations without departing fromthe invention as defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

A sales display stand for merchandise that is made in diiferent sizes,said stand comprising a plurality of tables, each of which has a top andside walls extending upwardly above the top and forming with the tabletop a shallow bin for merchandise, the difierent tables being spacedfrom one another to leave chasms-between the outside faces of theconfronting side walls of adjacent tables, an obstruction bar extendingbetween adjacent tables and across one end of the chasm in position toprevent customers from entering the chasm, "a holder connected to atleast one of the tables for supporting a display which advertises themerchandise, and in which the tables include a cluster of four tables intwo rows of two tables each with the two contiguous sides of each tablealong the out side edge of the cluster and with the tables of each-rowseparated from the corresponding tables of the other row in a mannersimilar to that in which the tables of each row are spaced from eachother, and in which the cluster of tables has a center platform at theinner ends of all of the chasms for supporting an advertising displayreferring to the items on all of the tables of the cluster.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,219,715 Eiseman Mar. 20, 1917 1,276,655 Housholder Aug. 20, 19181,308,441 Myers July 1, 1919 1,688,003 Darby Oct. 16, 1928 1,688,456Dolph 'Oct. 23, 1928 1,688,521 Burg Oct. 13, 1928 2,101,573 Cramer etaI. Dec. 7, 1937 2,412,219 Hunter Dec. 10, 1946 2,783,107 Gacht Feb. 26,1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,063,758 France May 6', 1954

